Solomon Islanders Rovu Boyers and Micah Lea’alafa scored a goal each for their respective soccer clubs in the Football South Australia (FSA) State League One on Saturday.
Boyers scored West Adelaide’s third goal in a 3-0 win over South Adelaide Panthers in the FSA Round 20 fixture, whilst Lea’alafa’s goal was not enough for Adelaide Vipers to win against league leaders Sturt Lions as they go down 2-1.
Boyers started for the Hellas on the bench where he sat through two goals from his club. One in the first half and another in the last 30 minutes of the game.
He came off the bench immediately after the second goal and it did not take long for him to make an impact.
His goal came when play started off with a goal kick by South Adelaide. The keeper restarted the game by passing to his defender and Boyers who was previously in the box from a potential cross ball before the goal-kick saw his chance to pressurise the defender.
The pressure paid off as the defender incorrectly timed his pass straight into Boyers’ feet. Boyers then punished South Adelaide defender’s mistake by scoring a goal to make it 3-0 and West Adelaide ran away with three points. They remained third on the FSA State League One table with 37 points.
In another FSA State League One game, a late goal from Lea’alafa against League leaders Sturt Lions was not enough for Vipers FC as they go down 2-1.
The Lions have rarely experienced losses and maintained their status as the league leaders. They were top of the table with 49 points before the match, followed by Fulham United with only 36 points, while Vipers had 15 points and remain 11th on the table.
Lions continued that streak as they went on to score two goals against Vipers FC, one in the 21st minute and another in 82nd minute.
Vipers fought hard to ensure the Lions did not score further goals and it paid off when in the final minutes of the game, when Lea’alafa saw a chance to begin a comeback.
Standing right on the edge of the box, Lea’alafa signaled to a Vipers teammate to pass the ball to him. It did and in a matter of seconds of the ball arriving at his feet, the Solomon Islander made a fake cut-in dribble before blasting the ball into Lions’ net.
The goal showed hopes of a Vipers resurgence, but time was catching up as the match ended 2-1 in favour of the Lions.
Furthermore, another victory was recorded in the FSA State League One for Adelaide Cobras where another Solomon Islander Javin Wae and teammate William Komasi are squad members.
The Cobras beat Adelaide Blue Eagles 2-1 on Saturday where Wae was featured for his club without his teammate Komasi.
The match marked Komasi’s third absence since round 18.
Blue Eagles scored the first goal which came in the second half. Cobras soon equalized in the 70th minute through Nicholas Harpas. Harpas then added Cobras’ second goal in the 83rd minute to give them a well-deserved three points.
Adelaide Cobras sits ninth on the FSA League One table with 21 points whilst Blue Eagles are fifth with 31 points.
Meanwhile, in the FSA National Premier League (NPL), Solomon Islander Junior David and his club Croydon FC lost their Round 20 match 2-0 to FK Beograd on Saturday.
David was named in the starting line-up where FK Beograd drew first blood with a goal in the ninth minute of the first stanza.
Croydon fought hard to equalize but instead received three yellows cards and David was replaced in the 52nd minute.
Beograd then settled the match in the final minutes of fulltime with their second goal to finish the game 2-0.
Despite the defeat, Croydon remained second on the FSA NPL table with 35 points, but they are only a point ahead of match victors, FK Beograd who are third on the table with 34 points.
Another Solomon Islands soccer player Raphael Leai was an unused substitute for Wollongong Wolves in narrow 1-0 win over Sydney FC in a Round 26 match of the New South Wales (NSW) NPL on Sunday 3rd August 2025.
By Ethan Habru
In Adelaide
